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    the House by all means ; but meanwhile , if you go there , Jones , go to make the most of it as it is , and to manage it to your own ends ( otherwise those of your constituents ) in spite of it . There is one preliminary new men should pay some attention to . Those of the new members who are not new men , in the sense of being practised to fight through public work in public places , do not need the hint ; but it is indispensable for others . There should be a medical examination and a medical certificate for all new

    men facing the House of Commons ? Clearly , great physique is one of the conditions of success m a lire of action ; and in the modern career of a man who works with his generation , there is more veritable bodily labour than is undergone by a soldier in a campaign . Mark the men who win in public life ; and you will see that they are all men of the enduring build . It seems a truism ; but very few people observe this , and , at any rate , not one in ten thousand regulates his " choice of life" by a reference to his anatomy .

    I don't mean big men or broad men . I mean men with large heads ( proportionate to the trunk ) , thick necks , and deep chests . Other sort of men may write great books , or start the ideas for the men of action ; but this sort of man only succeeds in action . These are the men who " get on" in the world , commercial or political . " Industry , " the key to all success , is only endurance ; and endurance is a tangible physical quality , no sermons and no personal resolves can convey to a

    man . Force and vigour—pluck—are the certain accompaniments of a special general conformation of the hinder part of the head and of the neck ; and these qualities are to the forehead—to the thinking and creating faculties—just what the Tender is to the Locomotive , supplying all the coals . A certain animalism is indispensable to the effect , in moving masses of men , of pure intellectuality ; and so true is this , that great defects , so considered abstractedly , of character , are necessary to political leaders—that , in short ,

    the great thinkers , who are great by force of the exclusively pure intellect , cannot succeed in public life at all . This is a theory , like most of its kind , to be tested by application to the men around us ; and it is worth nothing if it is not true of the prominent leaders in our English politics . The Premier in esse and the Premiers in posse are certainly illustrations . A Premier reaches his altitude in these days of oligarchical supremacies by influence—by impressing himself on those around him ; and the strong , forcible , enduring , restless man only is equal to that most

    enormous and wearying of human labours , diplomatically and assiduously " making friends . " It is not a new distinction , that , between men of thought and men of action—between the official engrossers of acts of parliament and the poets who have decreed the truths on which statutes rest ; but it is new that the gentlemen who are thinking of the " honour of a seat" need not wait for experience to teat their capacity to work out in labour their dreams of a career . They can obtain tlio knowledge by measuring their anatomies against the current Pitts and Peols of their day .

    Of course all this appears only to apply to a very few ; since every new M . P . does not aim at being Premier . But it applies to all . It is a question of physique as to the fitness of every man , if fitted in respect to brains , for the wear and tear of popular agitation—House of Commons life being an " agitation , " though now and again , only , " popular . " Certainly , to the man who goeB into the House of Commons as he would go into a club , because it is " the right thing " to belong to it , and who contemplates a lounging

    career of back benches and silence , the specification of any physical condition is needless . Such persons , Lordlings and squires , are not fit for public lifo , because the choice of such a career betrays the want of common intellect and the absence of common honesty ; and I am speaking in reference to tho average new men elected , jwsHessed of presentable ability to judge on plain matters and between competing leaders , and who comfort their conscience with the conviction that they have principles to work out , and that they mn be of service to their country .

    If they have been at work before they saw tho huntings—if they have been barristers , railway royalties busy merchants , busy not only in tho counting-houHe but in tho public business of their localities , they know precisely what amount of

    physique and what nice care of the best of frames is needed to stand the rush and crush of competitive existence . It is not a question whether the body can " stand it ; " it is a question whether the physical nature is such that the man can face , fight with , control , or at least keep abreast of , the crowds of rough , violent , fierce natures to be met in every melee , small and large , at committees and in public meetings . It is a question not only " Shall I last so many years if I work so hard and live so and soP" but "Am I the sort of man to impress myself on others , and to stand out of the crowd of despised commonplace P" That is entirely a question to be answered by the beat of the pulse .

    See what the fatigue of public life is—for those who mean to succeed in it . It is a sort of business in which so much work will bring such and such a return . Position in the House of Commons is what members who are practical men must aim at : and position is only accorded to those who labour hardest . In fact , those who give themselves up to the House entirely , induce the House to give itself up to them . Mr . Disraeli has lived in the House for twelve sessions . Sir [ Robert Peel was the " greatest member of Parliament ever known . " Lord John Russell

    even talks in private with the House of Commons peroratory twang . Mr . Hume is reverenced by both sides and all parties , because in the hottest agitation he was deferential to the House : and because his individual labours have enhanced incalculably the aggregate estimation of the whole body . Among the lesser gods reward is proportionate to capacity for work . The Wilson Pattens , JRah > h Beraals , the Greenes , and the Baines , and

    the Thornleys , work for the House , perhaps with results of which the public is not directly sensible , in the assortment , privately , of public business ; and the reward is not simply in the sense of virtuous jog-trotism , but in the smiles which beam on them on all sides , in the acquiescence shown to all their wishes , in the power granted to them in regard to private bills , and in the setting aside of 1500 J . a year for Chairmen of committees . On the other hand the men who

    will not identify themselves with the Housewho don't sit through debates , who shirk committees , and who talk of their constituents , and give themselves the airs of persons only condescending to be members—signally fail either of intimidating the Senate , or of gratifying themselves . Mr . Cobden , for instance , has never adopted the House of Commons style or knackhas never attempted to manage the House ; and hence his position in the House in no way reflects his middle-class power out of doors . Mr . Bright is always member for Manchester—never member

    of the House ; and , therefore , he is without power of influencing individually or generally . More signal instances may bo adduced of the folly of men joining a body they intend to defy . Mr . George Thompson was Oh , oh'd , in his first speech , and expressed his indifference to the opinions thus suggested ; and ho was only heard of aftorwards as a failure . O'Connell attempted , in turn , to bully and cajole , and never did anything for Ireland in consequence . And identification with

    the House is onl y to be effected by working sedulously with and for the House . Less work would make fortunes on ' Change , or famo at tho bar . "With constituents to satisfy on the one hand , and the stipulations of tho House of Commons to meet on tho other , there is no rest . Those who have private business as well as public duties to discharge cannot meot the requirements of their offices , and fall into the second rank of House of

    Commons heroes : one reason whv tho lords , Commons heroes ; one reason why tho lords , squires , and sons of nouvea / ux riches—the great disengaged—beat tho Radicals , who have generally private worlds to look after , in legislative racing . Those who devote themselves to , the House of Commons exclusively , to become conspicuous personages , live the hardest of human lives—live such lives , no doubt , because tho

    labour is the excitement they love ; but whatever their abstract , intellectual admiration of tho function of governing the British empire , their qualifications for it must bo dependent upon the report of their physiologist . Even when men are gifted with the giant frame of a Hume , or a Graham , or a 1 * 0 ( 3 , they must exist by the most stringent rules of feeding—must treat themselves as trainers treat nieers . There was a time when

    the newspaper report could be— " Mr . Sheridan staggered and said ; " when Fox would drop in , after thirt y hours of picquct and talk at fevor

    heat ; and when Mr . Pitt would be leaning over a basin behind the Speaker ' s chair , clearing him self of the port , and arranging the argument with which he would , by and bye , destroy "the talents . " But the House of Commons in those days was only a magnificent debating society . In these days , our Russells , and Gladstones , and Disraelis live by a regimen ; dull , perhaps , in proportion as they dwell in rigid decencies ; but thus only enabled to humour the genius of the and

    epoch—a decidedly respectable slow one . A glass of sherry , in our era , might destroy a week ' s work , or change the fate of a debate . Eighteen hours out of every twenty-four must be sacrificed by all men meaning great results in a brisk world ; and none can keep their legs , in such a career , without shunning most of the delights civilization provides for humanit y without a " purpose . " My preliminary hints extend unmanageabl y and what more I have to say must be postponed till next week .

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    THE CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT . II . " Men that are great lovers of themselves \ yaste the public . Divide with reason between self-love and society ; and be so true to thyself as thou be not false to others . "—Fbaitcts Bacoit . ( To the Editor of the Leader ?) Sib , —The produce of the earth — all that is extracted from its surface by the application of science , labour , and capital — is now divided , under the name of rent , p rofit , and wages , between three classes of society—namely , the pro-}) rietors of land , the owners of stock , and the abourefcs , by whose skill and industry all wealth has t > een \ created . But if the principle of indisidual property were excluded , and land and alfSfee instruments of production were held in \ common , the direction of labour and the division of produce would become public and magisterial acts , whether the division were made upon a system of absolute equality , or of apportionment to the wants or deserts of individuals , or upon some principle , or supposed principle , of justice or expediency . _ . .

    The first of these modes of distribution is known by the name of Communism , a word recently introduced into this country , although communities founded upon similar principles existed at the most remote periods of history . The Communists entirely exclude the principle of individual property , and assume that every

    one has an equal right to an equal share of the common stock . Communism , in fact , being a system of rigid social equality , enforced by a more or less absolute authority . On the Communistic scheme , supposing it to be successful , there would be an end of all anxiety concerning the means of subsistence ; but , as Mr , Mill has stated in his Principles of Political Economy : —

    " It is perfectly possible to realize the same advantage in a society grounded on private property ; and to this point the " tendencies of political speculation are rapidly converging . Supposing this attained , it is surely a vast advantage on tho side of the individual system , that it is compatible with a far greater degree of personal liberty . Tho perfection of social arrangements would be to secure to all persons complete independence and freedom of action , subject to no restnetion but that of not doing injury to others . l « c scheino which wo jure considering abrogates this freedom entirely , and places every action of every member

    of tho community under command . ' Socialism has been adopted by tho Eng lish communists as tho characteristic name for their own doctrine , although it does not necessarily imply tho absolute negation of indivKluftlism-The term , Socialism , is now generally tt PP Il 0 ( 1 , ^ any economical system by which land t io original inheritance of the human race—a' « tl the instruments of labour , become the'property of communities , or of associations . The modern Socialists , however , advocate a system , not o equal , but of unequal divisiou ; that nil shouiu

    labour according to their strength or cap »« "j » and share tho product according to their deseriH or necessities . Hitherto , tho general I > ° llrt y . ° Europe has greatly impeded tho froo circulation of labour aud capital , both from emp loyment i ^ employment , and from placo to p luco . i >»»' spito of these obstructions , Labour has aI . i | - 9 passed through three successive stages m progress towards final emanci pation ; linrn ° *' from slavery to serfdom , and from serfdom i hired service , under tho competitive system . ^ Mr . Mill acknowledges , that— " wo are , as yi >

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    778 THE L E APE R . [ Saturday ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 14, 1852, page 778, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1947/page/14/